This month on The Writer and the Critic, your hosts Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond fritter away a few precious minutes talking about carving out time for reading, vomiting on public transport, and anti-social lunchtime habits, before jumping straight into the books at hand.

The books chosen for discussion this episode are Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (beginning at 3:50) -- recommended by Ian -- and The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (42:30), which is Kirstyn's homework pick. Ian also manages to squeeze in a small spoiler-free review of The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker by way of comparison, and you can read his further thoughts on that book over on his blog.

If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:10:25 for Ian's Fun in Fandom Rant as well as some final remarks.

Instead of personal book recommendations, next month's episode will feature two novels which took home gongs at the recent Aurealis Awards which recognise excellence in Australian speculative fiction. Lexicon by Max Barry won Best Science Fiction Novel while Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near won Best Horror Novel and tied for Best Young Adult Novel. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!